The wildfire, which began May 1 and engulfed neighbourhoods in and around Fort McMurray, has forced more than 80,000 people to evacuate their homes. The blaze now covers more than 2,000 square kilometres. Flames have destroyed about 1,600 structures, feeding off extremely dry boreal forest. Almost 10,000 thousand people displaced by the fire have gone to Edmonton.

Due to the natural disaster in Fort McMurray, knowing where buildings are or were could be useful to assessing the amount of damage caused by the fire